Tuesday, November 20, 2012

"I Saw A 'Modern Family' I Liked"

I stopped watching Modern
Family regularly early in its second season, when I noticed they were going
for easier laughs and more predictable storylines.I would check back on occasion, encountering
more “eh” episodes than “huzzahs”, an example of the latter being the delightful
Second Season “Halloween” episode, where the bearded, red-headed lawyer
character was caught scaling down a building clad in a “Spiderman”
costume.(He believed the lawyers in his
office were expected to come to work that day in costume, and it turned out they
weren’t.)

That one was special.But overall, I found Modern Family
offering diminishing surprises.

So I’m holed up upstairs – ‘cause when a baby’s sleeping –
we are currently boarding baby Milo and his parents – the house goes unequivocally
on “mute.”For reasons more likely
related to “there’s no game on tonight” than actual enthusiasm, I decide to
return to Modern Family.

My choice is also a defensive
maneuver, since Dr. M is less likely to reject watching Modern Family than an SVU
episode – always my “default viewing”
selection – and if I don’t find a mutually acceptable option, we will end up
watching her favorite form of
entertainment – any show where a couple is looking to buy a house.

Dr. M agrees to watch Modern
Family, and I am rescued for one night.

The episode – I believe it’s “Episode Seven” of Season Four
– turns out to be surprisingly enjoyable.Immediately, my analytical mind leaps to the task of ascertaining the
reason why.I used to do shows.I remain interested in the process.

That I had never entirely figured out.

I recall during those three years when I wrote eight scripts
per season for The Mary Tyler Moore
Company that, invariably, one episode per season would rise demonstrably
above the rest.This situation always
perplexed me.Though I admit I am easily
perplexed.

All eight MTM
scripts had been written by the same capable writer – me – and yet, every
season, one of them was noticeably superior.

Why?

In my exploration, using Fourth Season Modern Family “Episode Seven” as my guinea pig, I come down to
three elements, the third of which, I believe, being the most salient.For “dramatic build” reasons, I shall leave
that one for last.

Okay, so my third point
explaining why this Modern Family episode
stands out relates to the generous allotment of funny jokes.For plot reasons I will explain later, the
chubby gay character is required to fix breakfast for his young niece and
nephew.The meal’s primary component is fake
bacon, which he claims is indistinguishable from real bacon except for the look, the texture and the taste.He first labels this alternative breakfast
meat “fakin”, then quickly amends the name – since he prepared it from scratch – to faux fake bacon, or “fokin.”

For me, that’s three bunched-together laughs.More than I’ve gotten recently from entire episodes of Modern Family.

Shelley Long plays the older character with the “Trophy Wife’s”
first wife, who, if not entirely crazy,
appears alarmingly overmedicated.As
reflected in this joke:

“I recently discovered my cat Frances buried in the
backyard.I’m just praying that she died
first.”

A little twisted, but, to me, still funny.

Last “good joke” example, and my personal favorite:The airhead older sister has been kicked out
of college and her parents are helping her pack up her belongings.The airhead daughter claims the expulsion has
been a wake-up call for her, and from now on, she is determined to knuckle
down.

As they’re about to exit the dorm room, the airhead’s father
says, “Where are my keys?”The airhead
daughter says, “They’re on the make-up table.”To which, her mother ruefully responds,“Oh, honey.That’s a desk.”

Last line in the show; big laugh from me.I believe Dr. M even cracked a smile at that
one.

I could offer other “quality joke” examples, but I’m
tired.Trust an expert.The episode had a surfeit of them.And if you don’t care for “surfeit”, how’s
“plethora”?(Any Three Amigos in the audience?)

The second element
explaining why this Modern Family episode
was, in my view, a number of cuts above the others is casting.

As I mentioned, the older guy with the “Trophy Wife’s” first wife was played by Shelley
Long.Why is this important?I will tell you.

Say you’re a capable pick-up basketball team, and Larry Bird
comes along and says, “Can I play?”Right away, the level of all the other players shoots up, in an effort
to keep up with their Hall of Fame
teammate.

Shelley Long not only brought spark and sparkle to her guest-starring
role, she raised everyone around
her’s game as well.Add that to the
regular players’ confidence delivering first class material, and you have a
talented cast working at the top of their abilities.

Now, finally, the main reason I believe this Modern Family episode excelled:

They were telling an important story.

As compared to the story they did a few weeks ago, wherein
the older guy’s tortured by his pregnant “Trophy Wife’s” snoring. Yawning is contagious.I contracted it from that episode.

The inciting incident here
is that the airhead daughter had been arrested for getting drunk at a college
party, and falling on a policeman.This
is, essentially, not a funny story.It’s
a dramatic story, with significant
consequences.

In an interwoven story – Modern
Family tells three stories per episode – the yuppie couple’s youngest son
has an allergic reaction to the “faux-kin”, which was prepared with soy, and
they’re off to the hospital.And the
third story involves the potential fireworks when a first wife first learns
that the second wife is pregnant.

All these stories matter, by which I mean “sitcom” matter,
rather than “Hurricane Sandy” or an outbreak of meningitis.Stories that matter provide a buttressing
spine to the comedic hi-jinx.Stories
that don’t matter, like the snoring
story, stand entirely on their jokes.

That’s why you have to start with a solid, believable story
that matters.When you have one, the
jokes seem to come more easily, and more generically.Throw in a “top-of-the-line” guest performer,
and you’re on your way to an episode that undeniably stands out.

Why can’t you do that every week?

Because stories that matter with comedic possibilities are
not easy to come by.

I once pitched a story for The Bob Newhart Show during a time when comedian Dick Martin was a
consultant on the show.When he was
asked what he thought of the idea, Martin replied, “Good drama.”

Though Martin meant it as a criticism, when I heard that, after
recovering from the stinging rebuke, I knew we were on the right track.

The best comedy episodes emanate from the essential
underpinning of a dramatic storyline.

3 comments:

It's interesting that you liked that joke the most, as it almost made me cringe. I like the humor in these shows when it's understated and comes from character (as opposed to forced jokes) and this fits the latter (both behave exactly in character), but the addition of the "it's a desk" ruins the understated part, probably because they were concerned that people won't get the joke.

Incidentally, I found you an episode of Community you probably will like - 3.17, called "Basic Lupine Urology" (ignore the name). You can watch it here - http://www.hulu.com/watch/354859